Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with White Chocolate or Rose Frosting

Cuppys with White Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting

Cuppy with Rose Frosting

I have been really excited to make these cupcakes. As you might have noticed, I have a thing for vanilla beans and cupcakes lately. Since my vanilla bean frosting turned out so well, I wanted to try a vanilla bean cupcake! My friend CB shared this recipe with me. You can find it at Leite's Culinaria. I followed the recipe as-is (other than halving the frosting recipe), so I won't repost it here. I'm not a huge white chocolate fan, so I wanted to try another type of frosting as well. I've been really curious about rosewater as a flavoring lately, and I thought it might go well with a vanilla-flavored cupcake. It is definitely different, but I like the originality of it.

Rose Frosting
3 oz cream cheese
2 1/2 C confectioner's sugar
1 T milk
1 t rosewater

Here's me slicing open my vanilla bean, preparing to scrape out the seeds.

Holy crap...look how much batter is left after filling my cupcake tray! It says it makes 12 cupcakes....I ended up with 32!!!



Look how nice and poofy they got this time! :)

Getting ready to chop the chocolate.

Chocolate milk in a bowl...I was supposed to let this chill for at least 4 hours, but seriously, who has that kind of time when cupcakes are on the line? I let it chill for 2...It worked fine. I don't know if the flavor would have changed or not.

Overall, these cupcakes were delicious. I was really not that impressed by the vanilla bean flavor though, unfortunately. They really just kind of taste like white cake. They are really moist and tasty though, so I can't complain! They are good with the rose frosting - it is subtle, but definitely is the highlight of these cuppys. For the white chocolate frosting, while I didn't care for the flavor so much on it's own, when I piled it on top of the cupcake, OMG...it was heavenly! So light and fluffy and airy. I don't like the fact that the cupcakes need to be stored in the fridge because of the milk content in the frosting, but hey, I'm not going to complain. :)

The boys loved these cupcakes, so all in all, they were a success!

Apple Cinnamon Granola

I found this wonderful recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Baking Bites. I've been thinking about fresh, homemade granola for quite some time now, so when I found this recipe, I just HAD to make it! It's so easily customizable, anyone can make it, however they like!

There is quite a bit of cinnamon in this granola, so I am entering it into this month's Master Baker competition. There is nothing quite so yummy as apple cinnamon granola!

Here is the original recipe, with my changes in red.

Mix-n-Match Applesauce Granola
3 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 cups puffed rice cereal
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
pinch ground cardamom
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup plain applesauce
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey (I used honey and Karo Syrup)
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used a vanilla bean, because I am obsessed with them lately)
up to 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts
up to 1 cup dried fruit

nut suggestions: almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, etc (I used pecans, slivered almonds, and pumpkin seeds)
dried fruit suggestions: cranberries, raisins, apricots, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, etc. (I used apples, dates, and blueberries)

Preheat the oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet (or two smaller sheets) with parchment paper. (I cooked mine in a Pyrex baking dish because that's how my mom used to do it, but it took WAY too long to bake since it was so deep.)
In a large bowl, combine oats, puffed rice cereal, and spices. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, applesauce (do not use chunky applesauce), maple syrup (or honey)and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients along with chopped nuts and stir to combine. Spread on prepared baking sheet(s) in an even layer. (I wasn't paying attention and I added the dried fruit now. I think it came out fine though, because I wanted my fruit to be mixed in the granola clusters.)

Bake for 30 minutes, then turn over the granola carefully using a large wide spatula, and bake for additional 15 minutes, until crisp and golden. Depending on the size of your baking sheet, the center might not be fully dried if your granola layer is thick, so if necessary remove the edges of the cooked granola to a cooling rack and let the rest cook for another 10-15 minutes until done.
Cool on pan or on a wire rack.
Break granola up as desired and stir in dried fruit. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 8 servings, more depending on add-ins.

This granola is so yummy! I ate it plain, out of the pan, and in milk. It would also be delish with yogurt!

Cupcake Hero: Vanilla Nut Martini Cupcakes

This month's Cupcake Hero challenge was to make cupcakes that included liquor in the cupcakes and/or the frosting. The wheels in my head started quickly turning, and I decided to use the flavors from my favorite martini of all time - the Vanilla Nut Martini. The martini is made with Frangelico and vanilla vodka. Frangelico is such a delicacy...I love the sweet hazelnut flavor. It's an expensive bottle, but OH so worth the money. I adapted a recipe for Amaretto Dream Cupcakes, replacing the Amaretto with Frangelico, and omitting the slivered almonds. I also used the frosting recipe, but omitted the Amaretto, and used 1 t vanilla extract, and a vanilla bean. Every day I kept thinking about how I wanted to do these cupcakes. I decided that the vanilla bean would add a more distinctive vanilla flavor than just plain vanilla. I also wanted to keep my hazelnut and vanilla flavors separate by making the cupcake one flavor, and the frosting the other, rather than combining them.

OH. MY. GOSH.

You would not believe how heavenly these cupcakes are. I was licking the bowl like crazy. It was seriously the yummiest batter I have ever tasted!!!! The cupcakes baked nicely, although my oven is whack. (We got new knobs that don't seem to align properly, and the temperature is never right. It took me an hour to bake my last cupcakes, so I set the temp for 100 degrees hotter this time. They still took 10 extra minutes to bake this time, but whatevs.)


The frosting turned out very nice. I had to use 5 T whipping cream, because I didn't take into account the liquid I was missing from the Amaretto.

I served these cupcakes at our housewarming party, and people were seriously freaking out about how good the cupcakes were. The cupcakes themselves were perfectly moist and soft. The flavor of the Frangelico had baked out a little more than I had hoped, so in the future, I might add just a little bit more. They had a really nice, mellow flavor though. I think it was everyone's opinion that the frosting TOTALLY made the cupcakes. It was SO good. The natural vanilla flavor was so good! I heard someone say it almost tasted like Breyer's vanilla ice cream.

I cannot wait to make these again...they were AWESOME!!!! Everyone at the party asked for the recipe. So, with no more ado...here is the recipe after I made my modifications to it.

Vanilla Nut Martini Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup Frangelico

Icing:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
5 T whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
vanilla bean

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add 1/3 of the flour and all of the buttermilk, then 1/3 of the flour and all of the Frangelico, beating well after each addition. Add remaining flour; mix until smooth.

Line regular or mini muffin cups with baking papers. Fill each 2/3 full. Bake at 375ºF for 14-16 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pans for 5 minutes. Remove and cool completely.

For frosting, beat powdered sugar and butter in a small mixing bowl. Scrape out vanilla beans and stir in into sugar mixture until they're evenly distributed. Add whipping cream and vanilla, beat until smooth. Add remaining cream if needed to reach spreading consistency. Spread over cooled cupcakes.

Yield: 24 regular or 48 mini cupcakes.

Vanilla Beans are here!!!

Thanks to my friends, I have discovered that there is a wealth of affordable vanilla beans on ebay!!! I made my first purchase two days ago, and my beans arrived today!!!!!!! Only $6.94 for 11 beans - including the cost of shipping! I am SO excited to get started on my baking with vanilla beans. Cupcake Hero, here I come...

Vanilla Bean Mousse!!!!

A few weeks ago, while we were driving in the car, Mike suddenly came up with this brilliant idea for dessert. He wanted something very light and airy, some kind of whipped treat in a very light crust, made with a vanilla bean. I told him that it sounded like he was looking for a vanilla mousse. We figured that a phyllo dough crust would probably be what he was imagining. Mike started doing some research on mousse, and told me that I needed to buy unflavored gelatin. So, I bought some, since I noticed that vanilla beans were on sale (if you can call $9.99 per bean a sale...).

My dear friend Clara helped me come up with a couple of recipes, and I did some research on my own. I ended up combining several recipes in order to come up with an actual vanilla bean mousse.

My phyllo dough didn't turn out so hot...I didn't roll it out thin enough, and the cups were too small, so it was very thick and doughy at the bottom. But, the corners were good, and we really dug it. :) It came out SO light and fluffy and flavorful, and it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. On top of that, it was fat-free! Can't beat that!!!


If you are going to use phyllo dough, be sure to bake it in advance so it can cool a bit before you are ready to pour the mousse into it.

FAT-FREE VANILLA BEAN MOUSSE

Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

2 T water
2 t unflavored gelatin
1 C fat-free half & half
4 T sugar, divided
1 vanilla bean

2 large egg whites
1/8 t cream of tartar

PREPARATION

Pour 2 T water into small saucepan; sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 10 minutes. Stir over very low heat just until gelatin dissolves, about 1 minute. Stire in fat-free half & half, and 2 T sugar. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Stir over very low heat until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes (do not boil). Transfer gelatin mixture to large bowl. Set bowl in another large bowl filled halfway with ice water; stir until mixture is cool, about 5 minutes. Discard vanilla bean.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites with cream of tartar in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add 2 T sugar and beat until stiff but not dry. Fold egg whites into gelatin mixture. Divide mousse among 4 wineglasses or phyllo shells. Chill until mousse is softly set, at least 4 hours and up to one day. Serve mousse cold.

The verdict: Mike loved it. He was totally satisfied with the result, and thrilled that I had made his dream. :) I thought it was excellent as well. It tastes so rich and wonderful, yet it is so light and weightless to eat!